Shovelbuck
Active Member
I was recently in a somewhat "Spirited" debate on a muzzleloading site about this knife......
The owner is a well known traditional bow builder and can be found on a lot of forums.
Anyway, he sells these knives and advertises it as a "Buffalo Skinner"
Yep, you heard that right.
Well, I called him on it, pretty much saying that there is no way a buffalo hunter from the 19th and early 20th centuries would of used such an axe. The exchange went on for a couple days between us until I finally said that we were never going to agree on it and dropped the whole thing.
I've read quite a bit of history concerning the buffalo hunters and can't find any mention of these huge knives being used. There are paintings and drawings done by artists from that time that show buff hunters carrying large knives but I've seen far too many original artworks that are so romanticized that it's hard to tell fact from fiction.
For myself, skinning and butchering any large critter is done with a good skinning blade and a longer boning type blade.
Something like these.......
The bottom knife is an original Russell Green River that was probably made in the mid 1800's.
My documentation also shows these styles being used by buffalo hunters .
So I guess the question is, what would you use to skin a buffalo? A large heavy Bowie type knife or a proper skinner?
Sorry for the underlining and font changes. I have no idea what caused it.
The owner is a well known traditional bow builder and can be found on a lot of forums.
Anyway, he sells these knives and advertises it as a "Buffalo Skinner"
Yep, you heard that right.
Well, I called him on it, pretty much saying that there is no way a buffalo hunter from the 19th and early 20th centuries would of used such an axe. The exchange went on for a couple days between us until I finally said that we were never going to agree on it and dropped the whole thing.
I've read quite a bit of history concerning the buffalo hunters and can't find any mention of these huge knives being used. There are paintings and drawings done by artists from that time that show buff hunters carrying large knives but I've seen far too many original artworks that are so romanticized that it's hard to tell fact from fiction.
For myself, skinning and butchering any large critter is done with a good skinning blade and a longer boning type blade.
Something like these.......
The bottom knife is an original Russell Green River that was probably made in the mid 1800's.
My documentation also shows these styles being used by buffalo hunters .
So I guess the question is, what would you use to skin a buffalo? A large heavy Bowie type knife or a proper skinner?
Sorry for the underlining and font changes. I have no idea what caused it.
